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Table of contents

What are decision making skills and why are they important?
30+ decision making skills examples for your resume
How to list decision making skills on your resume
How to improve your decision making skills
More skills resources
Key takeaways

In today’s fast-paced work environment, decision-making skills are crucial for success. These skills enable you to feel confident in the face of complex situations and make choices that propel both your career and company forward.

This guide will explore decision-making skills and provide examples that you can use to strengthen your resume.

What you’ll discover in this guide:

A definition of decision-making skills to help you understand their importance.
Examples of decision-making skills you can highlight on your resume.
Practical tips to refine and enhance your decision-making skills.
Key insights to remember the essentials of good decision-making.

Looking to showcase your decision-making skills with a persuasive resume? Try our AI Resume Builder, a tool that offers tailored content suggestions and formatting tips to help you craft a perfect resume quickly.

What are decision making skills and why are they important?

From what to eat for breakfast to what career path to pursue, the course of your life has been shaped by big and small decisions. Some decisions have a minimal impact on your day while others ripple outward, changing the course of your life. The ability to make strong, conscientious and informed decisions is vital to ensuring that you’re in charge of your life’s direction.

In the workplace, good decision making skills are vital to establishing a successful and productive career. Employers want to know that the people they hire are capable of thinking critically, analyzing issues from all angles, taking initiative and ultimately responding to challenges with confidence.

30+ decision making skills examples for your resume

Decision-making is a skill in itself, but it’s also a collection of soft skills that help with things like critical thinking, confidence, collaboration and leadership.

We’ve divided these skills into three categories, offering a framework to help you understand how they relate and how you can apply them.

Judgment

Judgment skills are the more traditional skills that you probably already think of when you think of a strong decision-maker. These abilities help you analyze a situation and take logical steps to determine the best course of action.

Judgment skills to include on your resume:

Analytical thinking
Problem-solving
Logical reasoning
Risk assessment
Prioritization
Strategic planning
Data interpretation

Research
Critical thinking
Pattern recognition
Cost-benefit analysis
Leveraging technology

Leadership

Leadership skills are key to decision-making. A decisive leader has the power to collaborate with others and guide their team toward success.

Leadership skills to showcase your decision-making:

Responsibility
Commitment
Time management
Active listening
Resource allocation
Delegation
Communication
Implementation
Monitoring outcomes
Adjusting strategies
Accountability

Innovation

Finally, decision-making involves innovation. The ability to think creatively and find new solutions to problems will make you a confident and effective decision-maker.

Innovative skills to help with decision-making:

Adaptability
Initiative
Creativity
Collaboration
Open-mindedness
Synthesis
Curiosity

How to list decision making skills on your resume

Now that you have a full toolbox of decision-making skills to integrate into your resume, let’s explore how best to show them off so employers can recognize your strategic and decisive excellence.

Step 1

Start by examining the job description

The job listing is always the best starting point when tailoring your resume. Look for keywords that hint at the decision-making skills the employer wants in their ideal candidate. Incorporate these key skills from the job ad into your resume to illustrate that you’re a perfect match.

For example, consider this job listing:

Our ideal candidate for the role of project manager is someone who can:

Analyze project requirements and develop effective strategies.
Make informed decisions to keep projects on track and within budget.
Solve problems creatively and adapt to changing situations.
Lead teams and manage resources efficiently.
Evaluate project outcomes and learn from project feedback.

The bolded keywords highlight the decision-making skills that could be advantageous to emphasize on a resume for this role.

Pro Tip

Featuring decision-making skills from the job listing not only positions you as the ideal candidate but also helps your resume pass through applicant tracking systems (ATS) more effectively.

Step 2

Feature decision making skills in your skills section

In addition to hard skills specific to your field, your skills section should also display key soft skills that show your comprehensive capabilities. This is an excellent chance to spotlight a few of your most vital decision-making skills.

Step 3

Integrate decision making skills throughout your resume

Your skills section isn’t the only area to demonstrate your decision-making prowess. Your work history is a significant section to illustrate how you’ve applied these skills in real-life scenarios.

Consider this example:

Project Manager
ABC Development Company, City, State
March 2019 – May 2024

Developed and implemented project strategies, achieving a 20% improvement in efficiency.
Made critical decisions under pressure to avert potential delays, maintaining project timelines.
Led cross-functional teams, ensuring optimal resource allocation and project success.
Conducted thorough analysis of project performance, leading to continuous improvements.

Your resume profile also offers an opportunity to emphasize some of the most crucial keywords right at the top. These are the first decision-making skills that employers will likely see, so choose those that are most pertinent to the role and your expertise.

Pro Tip

If you’re at the outset of your career, consider using a functional resume format to highlight your decision-making skills prominently, even if you lack extensive work experience.

Step 4

Don’t forget to include decision making skills in your cover letter

Your cover letter is a key piece of the job search. It allows you to expand on your resume and express your enthusiasm for the role. Here, you can further demonstrate your decision-making skills by discussing how these abilities have led to noteworthy achievements.

For help getting started, look for cover letter examples that effectively showcase strong decision-making skills. Our Cover Letter Builder can also assist by offering generated text based on your background and professional formatting help, giving you the confidence to complete your cover letter quickly.

How to improve your decision making skills

The ability to make tough decisions is essential both inside and outside of the workplace. Now that you know what decision-making skills are and how to feature them on your resume, let’s look at how you can work on improving them to become a stronger professional.

Improve your decision making skills by:

Practicing critical thinking

Strengthen your decision-making by actively practicing critical thinking. This involves questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence and considering alternative outcomes. You can enhance your critical thinking by engaging in activities like problem-solving games, puzzles or by analyzing case studies in your field. Critical thinking helps you to process information more deeply, which leads to better decision-making.

Learning from past decisions

Reflect on past decisions to understand what worked, what didn’t and why. Looking backward can illuminate patterns in your decision-making process and help you make more informed choices in the future. Forbes recommends self-reflection as a way of recognizing biases in your decision-making process.

Being open-minded

Upwork recommends seeking advice from mentors, peers or team members who may have different experiences or areas of expertise. Diverse perspectives can expose you to new ideas and equip you with a broader range of information, all of which can lead to more effective decision-making.

Relying on the professionals

The internet is a powerful resource. Try out structured approaches to improving your decision-making skills with courses like these:

More skills resources

Looking for help understanding, improving or listing a different career skill? Check out our other guides for help making the most out of your resume skills.

Now, let’s explore some key takeaways to help you remember what’s important!

Key takeaways

List decision making skills on your resume

Almost every section of your resume, from your resume profile to your work history to your skills, presents an opportunity to showcase your ability to make effective strategic decisions.
Showcase judgment

Great decisions start with good judgment. Show potential employers that you know how to analyze the data and draw logical conclusions to determine your next move.
Emphasize leadership

Decision-making is a leadership skill. The best decision-makers are also responsible, accountable and thoughtful leaders.
Innovate

Don’t just make decisions, make innovative decisions that use your creativity to carry you forward and unlock exciting new horizons.
Improve your decision making skills

Improve your skills by working on critical thinking, analyzing your past decision-making and integrating outside perspectives. Use the resources available to you and try an online course for a structured approach to improving your skills.

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Hailey Brophy is an experienced writer with a diverse career in digital publication. She is passionate about using her unique skills and experiences to help job seekers find the information that they need to succeed.